2024 Paris Olympic Games

    I agree, Turkey is much better than Italy lately so why on earth Italy is now a clear favourites? I would say Brazil and Turkey are teams to beat right now.

    Quote from clara

    Group A third place is not necessarily safe. They will play against two very tough opponents and it's very much possible that they could get no points from these matchups.


    In this scenario, if one of DOM/NED beats the other in 4 AND manages to steal a point from Italy or Turkiye, they'd be on 4 points, while the group A third place would be on 3.

    DOM-NED going to 5 is a much likely scenario than all of this.

    Quote from Sentenza_69

    IDK...

    Many of you are taking points away from Turkey, but for me they will arrive at the Olympics in good shape and will be a team to beat...

    Three players from last year's winning team have injuries. Even if they make it to the Olympics, they will lack training and game time, hence they will be out of shape. TUR should have let go of VNL and followed the Serbian model. I would have expected Santarelli to be wiser. This is also his first experience managing a team without star players....

    Quote from MONSTERBLOCK

    DOM-NED going to 5 is a much likely scenario than all of this.

    As I said before, I think the most likely scenario is that the worst third place comes from group C, but I was just pointing out that it's also not impossible that it'll be one of the big teams in group A.


    Let's say:


    USA sweeps France, loses to both Serbia and China in 4.

    DOM beats the Netherlands in 4, loses to Turkiye in 5 and gets swept by Italy.


    Doesn't sound that crazy to me, it could very much happen.


    But I also feel like literally nothing is most likely when it comes to DOM lol this is a team that lost to Czechia in their first match of the OQT and then went on to qualify in first place in a group with Serbia and China. You never know which DOM you're going to get, which makes it very hard to predict anything.

    Absolutely agree, although Gaila is injured and won’t play Olympics so that reduces their chances quite a bit. Last summer when DR beat Serbia it was always cause Gaila was killing every impossible ball in crucial moments, besides their amazing defense with blockers and Castillo.

    Tapia is cool but she doesn’t have as much experience.

    Quote from Justbegoodtome

    Three players from last year's winning team have injuries. Even if they make it to the Olympics, they will lack training and game time, hence they will be out of shape. TUR should have let go of VNL and followed the Serbian model. I would have expected Santarelli to be wiser. This is also his first experience managing a team without star players....

    only Zehra from starting 6. Anyways it all depends on Vargas so who cares

    yeah, for sure VNL scores will be very important in OG… Poland swept Italy 3-0 so I guess Poland will win gold? :D

    Quote from 7UP

    only Zehra from starting 6. Anyways it all depends on Vargas so who cares

    We saw in game with Brazil that nothing really depends on Vargas.

    Quote from 7UP

    only Zehra from starting 6. Anyways it all depends on Vargas so who cares

    Hande too, but I included İlkin cause she is a good back-row substitute...

    Quote from Carl121

    Zehra Gunes is playing very bad at least for the last two years, i think Arici and Akman are definetely much better right now.

    The games she played on NT say otherwise, though.

    Quote from Winrip

    We saw in game with Brazil that nothing really depends on Vargas.

    It is exact same situation as with Boskovic. Set 50 balls to them and pray they can kill them.

    So far it worked last years for both Serbia and Turkey and nothing changed since then.


    I agree with this 100%.

    It is so difficult to predict which will be DOM level. They have been like this for more than 15 years. The only thing that could be predicted for the Caribbean team is their unpredictability. They could finish 1 or even 4 (and it wouldnt surprise me). They have world class players in their line up and they have been playing together for centuries. They could have a run as in Italy 2014, even without Gaila. If Turkey or Italy (the favs in this pool) do not crash them from the beginning, DOM could be a big pain in the ass. When they are motivated, they could beat anyone, but unfortunately they should tend to beat themselves with amateur mistakes in clutch moments.

    For me the key will be setter position (as it has always been). When Marte plays decently (not even in top level), DOM works as well oiled machine.

    The drawing has been good for every team (except France), but the "pool of death" is the C (3 semifinalists from the last EuroVolley + Norceca Champion).

    Quote from 7UP

    It is exact same situation as with Boskovic. Set 50 balls to them and pray they can kill them.

    So far it worked last years for both Serbia and Turkey and nothing changed since then.

    In VNL we have seen so far that Turkish NT tries to attack more with other OH`s from Pos. 4 and 6. I`m sure Serbian NT are practising more on it. Well see how Busa can handle, wenn its come to stressful moments in Game. I think they will miss Mihajlovic there. In this case this two teams really looking like each other.